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The Ryoma Sakamoto (a political revolutionary in the mid-1800's) theming of foods has not disappeared yet, despite having been around for most of the previous year. I saw this display of regional Japanese sweets and cookies at a local supermarket. One of the great benefits of using the image of someone long-dead with no family to claim rights to his image is that you can splatter his face anywhere and everywhere without offering a slice of the profit pie to anyone else.

I think that we're bound to see this fad finally run out of steam in 2011 as the documentary on Japanese T.V. that inspired it is certain to be fading in memory and I'm sure people feel less inspired to buy snacks by his stern-looking face than they once did.

Ryoma Sakamoto Purple Potato Tart Crunky

And so, we come to the end of my dalliances with political revolutionary Ryoma Sakamoto themed candies, because, frankly, I'm sick of them. His likeness has been slapped on everything these days and the snacks his face is applied to are nothing special. Though I liked the yuzu cookies, the other items haven't really lit my fire. This Crunky would be included in that sad group.

Frankly, Crunky has really let me down in most of its variations. While I like (not love) the regular bar, its malt puffs don't seem to work well with other flavor mixtures or textures. I think the puffs are too strongly flavored and compete with whatever they're with, and mainly milk chocolate works with them. Someone at the Crunky product design level needs to say that when they use the Crunky brand to crank out derivative products, they should use bland crispy rice, not their regular malty puffs.

I had some small expectations for this because "purple potato" is essentially the brother of another color of the yellow-fleshed sweet potato, and I love sweet potato. The candy even smells nicely sweet potato-ish and the very first sense on the tongue also conveys that lovely tuber's essence. Unfortunately, that hint rapidly turns into strong sweetness and malt puff flavor once you start crunching your funky crunchy little morsel. At the end, you're just in textured malt puff and buttery white chocolate land. If you adore white chocolate, that's not a bad place to live, but it wouldn't be my residence of choice.

You can pick these up nearly anywhere for about 100 yen ($1.20) for a box of 10 individually wrapped slabs. Each is only 22 calories and 3.9 grams (.14 oz.), so you're essentially getting a Hershey's kiss portion with about three times the wrapping with every bit. They aren't bad at all, merely not great. Though I think that they may be loved by malt puff and white chocolate fans, I wouldn't buy them again and I think it'll take me some time to finish the box. I'd rather spend my calories on other chocolates most days.

Lotte Ryoma Sakamoto Yuzu Cookies

I've had these cookies around for an incredibly long time. This is not a testimonial to the unpalatable nature of the cookies, nor necessarily to my laziness (okay, perhaps it's at least a nod to my sloth), but rather to the slow rate of my consumption of treats. There are 11 cookies in the box, and my husband isn't a fan of yuzu so I've had to slowly eat them all myself. I'm pleased to say that it was a task I enjoyed.

More of the Ryoma Sakamoto line of snacks has made an appearance in my area since I initially discovered them and reviewed the sweet potato cakes. While those who have forgotten what I said about him in the first review or never heard of him in any way may think he's a Japanese chef, he's actually a political feature. It's like America putting out George Washington pretzels, bubble gum, and Oreos (cherry-flavored, no doubt).

These cookies are flavored subtly with yuzu, a Japanese citrus fruit which tastes like a cross between a grapefruit and a lemon. It has unique properties which I can't really convey, but it is a good citrus addition to a wide variety of snacks in Japan, both salty and sweet. In fact, it's one of my favorite flavors.

The cookies are tender and slightly soft on the inside, and a little crispy on the outside. They share this property with Country Ma'am brand cookies, though the textural contrast between the exterior and interior is less profound. Each cookie is 5 cm. (2 in.) in diameter and provides 47 calories. The cookies smell lightly and pleasantly of yuzu's unique scent and the flavor is lightly sweet. The citrus flavor is mild so that you can taste the qualities of both the cookie and the flavoring.

These cookies are really a delight, but I would caution that they are quite subtle. Their delights are as much in the texture as the flavor and they are not going to suit someone who likes more robust offerings. I found them to be really enjoyable with tea, and I'd definitely consider buying them to take home and share with people who may be squeamish about uniquely Japanese treats and flavors. They may not love them, but they surely wouldn't find them unpalatable, and there's a good chance they'd enjoy them as much as I have.

Lotte Kagoshima Sweet Potato Cake

While stumbling around Okashi no Machioka snack shop, I noticed that there seems to be a new line of snacks featuring a graphic of a stern-looking Japanese gentleman in old-style garb. The man who is represented is Ryoma Sakamoto, a political revolutionary in the mid to late 1800's. Is it me, or is that sort of a weird thing to put on a box of cakes?  This particular line of Lotte snacks represent areas of Kagoshima prefecture associated with Mr. Sakamoto and were released on June 22.

There are 6 snacks in this campaign, and I'll be reviewing at least two of them. Besides these sweet potato cakes, I also bought a box of yuzu (Japanese citrus fruit) cookies, but there are also purple potato Crunky chocolates, Toppo castella-flavored pretzel sticks (like an inverted Pocky), and some yuzu gum which I haven't located yet. In fact, I seriously considered doing a Ryoma Sakamoto snacks theme week, but most of these items are multi-packs and I could't finish them off for weeks if I bought that many of them. And frankly, doing a week of snacks themed around a guy who was assassinated at 33 and whose Smith and Wesson revolver is picture on his Wikipedia page is just too damn weird.

There are 6 cakes in the box and I paid 198 yen ($2.19). That price will probably go down as the product line rapidly ages. The back of the box shows a statue of a proud and tall Sakamoto with what looks to be a tiny Japanese woman slightly behind and off to his left looking on in admiration. I'm guessing this statue is in the area where the sweet potatoes used in this confection are from. Frankly, it looks a bit sexist in design to me as it brings to mind the idea of women walking 7 paces behind men in old feudal Japan.

When I unwrapped the foil packet and gave these a sniff, they smelled excellent. There was a definite good whiff of Japanese sweet potato. The first bite revealed what seemed to be brown sugar and buttery notes as well as sweet potato, though I will note that these use margarine (not butter). The second bite, however, actually wasn't quite as good as a strange flavor seemed to be revealed. The flavor seemed similar to coconut, but wasn't really quite the same. By the third and fourth bites, this flavor dominated and I couldn't detect the sweet potato much. I wonder if that weird flavor was a result of the use of "natural cheese" (probably Gouda if I know Japanese snack makers, and I do). Note that these are colored with anatto in order to bring them closer to a potato color. There is no real sweet potato in them, but rather a powder. Oddly, they also have cocoa powder in them.

These were fine, but not quite what I expected. Certainly as a generic sweet they're fine, if a bit oddly seasoned. The texture is moist and they're a bit fatty. Each small (16.5 gram/.6 oz.) cake is 77 calories, which isn't bad even for a morsel like this. I just wish the sweet potato flavor weren't diluted by so many other tastes. I will slowly eat the remainder of the box when I am in the mood for cake, but I'm quite certain I wouldn't buy these again.